Huge security breach hits Reed Elsevier

Publishing company Reed Elsevier admitted today that around 32,000 US individuals had their personal data revealed to hackers in a suspected case of identity theft. The publisher said its LexisNexis arm had database information, including social security and driver’s licence numbers, stolen as the result of fraudulent access.

“Information on approximately 32,000 individuals may have been fraudulently accessed in these incidents. LexisNexis very much regrets this and will be notifying all the individuals concerned and providing them with ongoing credit monitoring,” said the company in a statement. “The information accessed includes names, addresses, social security and drivers’ license numbers, but not credit history, medical records or financial information.”

The FBI and the Secret Service are investigating the security breach.

LexisNexis has already enhanced its ID and password administration as a direct result and claimed in the statement it was liaising with law enforcement to improve its security procedures.

The revelation comes in the midst of another security theft saga involving data brokers Choicepoint. Earlier this month SC reported details of the potential theft of 145,000 individuals’ personal information from the Choicepoint database.